German-based interconnect provider Harting Technology Group held its annual open house and distributor awards event during the Electronics Distribution Show (EDS) this May at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. Now an annual tradition for the firm, Harting provides its distribution partners the opportunity to see how it is shaping the future with new technologies. This year the theme was ‘Tomorrow’s technologies trusted today’, highlighting how Harting technologies make future-forward applications possible.

The event began with president & CEO of Harting Americas, Jon DeSouza, who discussed how the company‘s trusted technologies has made innvoation possible throughout the years and is leading the way for IIoT. DeSouza highlighted two key products that are helping to push the company to the forefront of IIoT – the Hermes award winning Harting MICA and the Smart Han, which brings intelligence directly to the connector. Following, Philip Harting, chairman of the board of Harting globally, shared a update on the future of the company worldwide. He communicated that the company is forecasting an 8% growth in 2017, and how partnerships with Distributors has been a key component.

The highlight of the event was a keynote from Dan Dorsch, one of the project team leads from the MIT Hyperloop project. Dorsch gave an overview of the project – which Harting sponsored – focusing on the challenges of the project and how Harting’s products helped them win the award for Safety and Reliability and place third in the overall Hyperloop pod competition.

Finally, Harting celebrated its partners with their annual Distribution Awards. The following companies received recognition from Harting for their successes in the last year:

* Distinguished Award for Distributor of the Year: Digi-Key Electronics who grew FY16 billings and bookings revenue by more than any other HARTING Distributor.

* Distinguished Award for New Customer Growth: Allied Electronics who added more new HARTING customers than any other Distributor and sold to more customers in FY16 than any other Distributor.

* Distinguished Award for New Product Sales Growth: Digi-Key Electronics who grew new product sales revenue by more than any other HARTING Distributor.

* Digital Marketing Partner of the Year: Arrow Electronics who made a significant investment in HARTING NPI and digital marketing.